Мишель Роуэн - Hot Spell

She shook her head. “You’re obviously crazier than I am.”

“No argument there.” A sexy smile appeared on his lips that did strange things to her insides. She tried to ignore it. “So does this mean you’ve changed your mind about hating me?”

“I wouldn’t think you’d care what I think of you one way or the other.”

He shrugged. “I don’t, of course. I’m just wondering.”

“ Hate is such a strong word, really. Maybe loathing or distaste mixed with apathy fits better.”

“That sounds more like it.” The smile slipped away and was replaced with a less-friendly, more guarded expression. “Let’s find that clock.”

Good plan.

The truth was, the longer Amanda was in Jacob’s presence, the more she didn’t dislike him, which was disturbing, to say the least. Ever since they’d first met and she’d felt that initial spark—which had been quickly extinguished when he’d used her hated nickname—she’d held on to that distaste for him. It made things a lot simpler. Cleaner.

That was how she liked life to be: clean and simple.

She heard the clock then. Its ticking was loud and precise behind the closed door in front of her. She wasn’t entirely sure why the sound sent a chill of anticipation through her body.

“I think it might be in here,” she said after a moment of uncomfortable silence passed between them.

“Lead the way.” There was a pause, and then, “Hey, Amanda.”

“What?” She looked back at him. She jumped when a flash went off. When the spots left her eyes and the hallway darkened again she glared at him. “Why did you take my picture?”

“Just making sure everything’s in working order.” But he looked way too smug for that to be the only reason. Baiting her. Fantastic. Glad that she amused him. Really professional behavior there. He glanced down at the view screen. “You’re very photogenic, I’ll give you that.”

“Sure I am.” She didn’t want to see it. She probably looked like a pissed-off troll with the flash so close to her face. “Delete it, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She pushed open the door in front of her to find that it led into a large bedroom. Unlike the other rooms they’d been in, this one looked all ready for the open house since there was no plastic wrap covering the furniture and it smelled fresh and pleasant, like roses and freesia, rather than musty and dusty. A canopied queen-sized bed was to one side, draped in gauzy material that blended with the hand-woven, cream-colored carpeting. A window to their left looked down to the driveway and thatch of oak trees. A glance out showed Jacob’s car parked below.

Against the wall across from the door was the clock she’d seen in her vision. Eight feet tall, black, and it stood there like a monster silently lurking in the dark.

Or maybe she was projecting. It was possible. She refused to be afraid of a stupid inanimate object.

“That’s it?” Jacob asked.

She nodded.

He approached it with confidence and slid his hand up the smooth front of it. “Doesn’t look all that dangerous to me.”

“Be careful.”

He shot her a droll look. “You do care about me, after all. Don’t worry, I’m sure the big bad clock isn’t going to hurt me.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. It might.”

He removed his hand, then began to snap a few pictures of the clock, long shots, close-ups. And of the face itself, still showing the broken glass from where a stray bullet had hit the white surface in her vision, that currently read two minutes to midnight. The pendulum swung evenly back and forth counting off the seconds.

Amanda attempted to ignore the muscles that flexed in Jacob’s arms, the way his back moved, the hard planes of his chest, how well those jeans fitted his muscled thighs and lean hips. Her attention moved to his green eyes and short dark hair and she absently wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

He eyed her. “Are you just going to gawk at me or are you going to write anything down in that notebook of yours?”

A flush came to her cheeks yet again. She wasn’t gawking. Much.

Suddenly Catherine appeared next to her in a pulse of soft light.

“You must leave.” The ghost cast a tense look at the clock. “It’s not safe for you here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What?” Jacob asked absently.

“I’m speaking to the ghost. She’s next to me right now.”

“Oh…well, carry on.” He continued to take pictures.

Catherine looked very stressed for a ghost. “There’s no time left. It’s almost midnight. My aunt’s magic…the clock…you need to trust me. Go now.”

“I don’t understand,” Amanda said. “I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to determine exactly what the problem with the clock is and I need data to take back with me—”

“Then leave this room just for now. Come back in an hour. But you can’t be here when the clock strikes midnight!”

Which was less than a minute away.

“Why not?” Amanda’s eyes began to widen. “What happens at midnight? I know you and Nathan will disappear.”

“It’s more than that. The clock’s magic strips away one’s ability to think and act rationally, which is what happened to myself and Nathan. We lost control.”

“Lost control?” Amanda repeated.

Jacob stopped taking pictures for a moment. “Is there a problem?”

“The door to this room should have been locked.” Catherine wrung her transparent hands together. “That horrible woman, the one who wants us to leave, she must have unlocked it.” She swept a glance over the room and scrunched her nose with distaste. “And she’s replaced the bedding. The color palette she’s chosen is not attractive at all.”

“Forget the colors,” Amanda protested, feeling panic well inside her. “Let’s get back on the topic. You want us to leave but I need to know why. It might help with our investigation. It might help you. ”

“Catherine,” Nathan appeared next to her. His face was much more serene than hers now. “Leave them be. It’s fate that they’re here.”

“Fate.” She spat the word like a curse. “Fate is what got us into this situation in the first place, isn’t it?”

His lips thinned and a momentary doubt crossed his gaze as he looked at Catherine. “Do you wish it had been different for us?”

Instead of snapping at him or getting angry, her features softened as their eyes met and held. “They don’t realize what this means.”

“They will,” Nathan whispered. “Besides, it’s already too late.”

“What the hell are you—?” Amanda began again, confused and deeply disturbed by the exchange she was witnessing.

The clock struck midnight.

CHAPTER 5

Catherine looked upset, but Nathan looked smug as the chimes sounded out from the clock.

Amanda’s eyes widened. “What’s going to happen now?”

Jacob reacted to the tense tone in her voice by coming to her side, staring around at the otherwise empty room and the ghosts he couldn’t see.

Nathan smiled at her. “You and your friend are as doomed as we are.”

“What can we do?”

“Nothing.” He glanced at Catherine’s stern expression and his smile turned sadder. “Till tomorrow, my love.”

“Tomorrow,” she murmured as the last chime echoed through the room.

The ghosts disappeared in separate flashes of light.

Jacob and Amanda stood, frozen in place, staring at each other.

“What’s happening?” Jacob asked.

“The ghosts say we’re doomed,” she replied, glancing at the clock which now read exactly midnight. “Oh shit.”

“What?”